Heart of Innocence
by ChoCedric
Summary: Albus Dumbledore goes to the hospital wing to comfort Ginny after the Chamber of Secrets fiasco. Will he be able to convince her that what happened with Tom Riddle wasn't her fault?


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Heart of Innocence

By: ChoCedric

Albus Dumbledore's heart was heavy as he made his way to the hospital wing of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Once again, in his own school, someone had been attacked and almost not survived. To think that Tom Riddle had controlled a sweet, innocent little girl made him feel sick, and his blood boiled as he thought of the depths to which Lord Voldemort would stoop.

As he entered the wing, he saw Ginny Weasley lying down on a bed, still looking pale and shaken. As he walked over, she sat up to greet him, a sad and vulnerable expression on her young face.

"Hello, Professor," she said softly and timidly, as if she was ashamed to say anything to a man of such high esteem. Dumbledore knew how the wizarding world viewed him, and part of him wished they didn't think he was infallible. He saw the fear in Ginny's eyes and also wished that that fear wasn't of him. He knew she probably thought he would scold and reprimand her for being hoodwinked by the young Tom.

"Hello, Ginny," Dumbledore said gently, and Ginny felt the mattress sink as the Headmaster sat down on the bed next to her. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm all right," said Ginny quietly, and Dumbledore knew she wasn't telling the truth. He didn't need his Legillimency powers to know that.

He looked the young girl right in the eyes, noticing how her cheeks were still stained with the remnants of the tears she had cried. "It's okay, Ginny," he said gently. "You don't need to hide it from me. I just want to make it clear to you that I do not blame you for the events of tonight."

Ginny stared at him, her bottom lip beginning to tremble again. "But s-sir ..." she stammered. "Harry was almost killed because of me, and all those ... all those people ... I attacked them."

"No, no," Dumbledore said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You need to understand that what happened wasn't any of your doing. Lord Voldemort ..." She shuddered violently at the name, "is a very powerful wizard, and as I said before, many others who are much older and more experienced than you have been fooled by him."

"But I was stupid," Ginny insisted, tears beginning to fall from her bright brown eyes. "I kept writing in the diary even though I knew it was wrong! I wanted to stop writing in it, but Tom had this ... this pull over me."

"Can you tell me exactly what it was like?" asked Dumbledore softly.

"There were all these times when I'd wake up in a strange place and wouldn't remember how I got there," Ginny sniffled, angrily brushing the tears away with her hands. "When I tried to throw the diary away, it was too late. He was already in my head. He made me steal it back from Harry so he could lure me down to the Chamber so that Harry could come and rescue me. Why, Professor, why are some wizards so bad!" she ended in a high-pitched wail.

Dumbledore didn't normally do this with students, but he gathered the young girl into his arms and embraced her, a girl who was far too young to be tainted by Voldemort's evil. "I do not know, Ginny," he sighed sadly, thinking of Tom who he'd failed, failed to keep on the right side. "But think of it this way: even though there is bad in the world, there is plenty of good to balance it out."

"I know," Ginny said, leaning into Dumbledore's embrace. "I'm ... I'm just so ashamed. Penelope ... Hermione ... Justin ... Colin ... Harry ... they all could have died, and it would have been all my fault!"

There was nothing that Dumbledore could say to this. All he could do was tighten his arms around her and let her cry it out. It wasn't fair that in his own school, something like this had to happen. Why had he been so negligent?

Once Ginny's sobs had subsided, Ginny looked at the sad but twinkling eyes of her kind Headmaster and said, "Th-thank you, sir. I'm s-sorry I broke down like that."

"You are not weak by any means, Ginny," Dumbledore told her gently. "You do not need to be ashamed of crying. You were incredibly brave to hold Tom off for as long as you did. You possess incredible strength of character, and I am extremely proud of you."

"Really?" asked Ginny, her brown eyes adopting a look of surprise.

"Definitely," said Dumbledore. "Now, I know that it will take you a while for you to trust again, because I know you thought of Tom as a dear friend."

"Yeah," said Ginny sadly. "What am I supposed to do? Can I trust anyone anymore? I thought Tom would keep all my secrets, that he'd never abandon me."

"We're all here for you," Dumbledore answered, taking her small hand in his. "I have faith in you, and I know it will be hard, but you will eventually get through this and learn that you can love and trust once more. My door is always open if you need to talk, as is your Head of House Minerva's. And your family loves you very much, they were all extremely concerned about you tonight."

"I know," Ginny replied quietly, wiping away the last of her tears. "Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome," Dumbledore said, getting up from the bed. "Now, you must rest before Madame Pomfrey gets on my case." This prompted a small, watery laugh from Ginny. "I will see you soon, all right? And remember what I said: it wasn't your fault in the slightest."

"Okay. Thanks," said Ginny softly as the Headmaster walked out of the hospital wing, closing the door behind him.

Even though guilt still crashed upon him about the night's events, his heart had grown a little lighter. Ginny was spunky and resilient, and he knew she'd come through this. Her family would help her, as would he and the other staff of Hogwarts. Everything would be all right, as long as she had faith.


End file.
